AI customer support , by Tidio , since 2013
Tidio (Lyro AI)
Live chat platform with a paid-add-on AI agent (Lyro) for small business support
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What Tidio (Lyro AI) does
Tidio is a live chat and helpdesk tool for small and mid-size businesses; Lyro is its conversational AI add-on that answers customer questions from a trained knowledge base and handles simple order/FAQ queries. It's aimed at small ecommerce and SaaS teams wanting affordable live chat with optional AI automation layered on top, rather than an enterprise deployment. Lyro is priced and sold separately from the base plan on all tiers except the top Tidio+ plan.
What you get: Lyro conversational AI trained from website/FAQ content, Rule-based Flows automation alongside AI, Live chat widget with visitor tracking, Ticketing and shared inbox, Multilingual AI responses, Mobile apps for support on the go, Basic e-commerce integrations (Shopify etc.).
Typical jobs: affordable live chat with AI for small business; AI chatbot for small Shopify stores; add AI FAQ bot to an existing website; budget alternative to Intercom for startups.
Worth knowing: Lyro AI is a paid add-on on every plan except the $749/mo tier, headline plan prices don't include AI.
What users complain about: Multiple operators report Tidio quietly restructured pricing in late 2024, and long-running customers saw their monthly bills roughly double under the new tiers. (Reddit / Capterra (via eesel AI review roundup))
Pricing and plan limits
Verified August 2026| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per mo) | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | 50 billable conversations/month; 10 seats; no Lyro included |
| Starter | $29 | $24.17 | 100 billable conversations/month; Lyro sold separately |
| Growth | $59 | $49.17 | from 250 billable conversations/month; Lyro sold separately |
| Tidio+ (Plus) | $749 | $749 | 5,000 conversations included, Lyro AI included |
Where it wins
- Genuine free tier usable for small stores with low chat volume
- Lyro add-on starts cheap ($32.50/mo for 50 conversations) for testing AI on a small scale
- Simple setup. Lyro trains directly from website content and FAQs with no coding
- Good fit for small ecommerce and SaaS teams already using Tidio's live chat
- Combines rule-based Flows automation with AI Lyro for a hybrid setup
Where it falls short
- Lyro is billed as a separate add-on on every plan except the $749/mo Tidio+ tier. AI cost stacks on top of the base plan
- Conversations reset after 15 minutes of inactivity, so a customer who steps away mid-chat can trigger multiple billed conversations for one interaction
- Huge pricing gap between Growth ($59/mo) and Plus ($749/mo) with nothing in between
- Lyro can only learn from simple sources (website, FAQs), not broader knowledge bases or documents
- No voice or outbound phone automation, chat/messaging only
How we scored it
Full methodology| Criterion | Weight | Score | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | 30% | 6.0 | 1.80 |
| Value for money | 25% | 5.5 | 1.38 |
| Ease of use | 15% | 8.0 | 1.20 |
| Maturity | 15% | 6.5 | 0.97 |
| Support & docs | 10% | 6.5 | 0.65 |
| Momentum | 5% | 6.0 | 0.30 |
| Weighted total | 100% | 6.3 | 6.30 |
Alternatives to Tidio (Lyro AI)
Chosen by editors, not sponsors-
AdaPaidClosest match on capability
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Forethought (Solve)PaidClosest match on capability
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SierraPaidClosest match on capability
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DecagonPaidClosest match on capability
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